School Notes: David Geffen School of Drama
July/August 2009

Drama alumna receives Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Playwright Lynn Nottage ’98MFA, lecturer in playwriting at Yale School of Drama, has been awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Ruined. The play, which received its world premiere in a co-production with the Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club, was cited by the Pulitzer committee as "a searing drama set in chaotic Congo that compels audiences to face the horror of wartime rape and brutality while still finding affirmation of life and hope amid hopelessness." A 2007 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Ms. Nottage is also the author of Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or the Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; and other plays.

A new name for the New Theater

The New Theater, the 200-seat state-of-the-art performance venue at 1156 Chapel Street, was renamed the Frederick Iseman Theater in a rededication ceremony on May 30. The theater, located in Holcombe T. Green Hall, has been in operation since the 2000 dedication of that building, and has housed a variety of theatrical and dance productions, including the school's annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays and some Yale Rep productions. The renaming of Yale's premier "black-box" theater is in recognition of a gift from Frederick Iseman ’74, a graduate of Yale College. This marks "the first named performance space in the history of Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre, and represents Mr. Iseman's passionate support of theater and the performing arts here at Yale and around the world," said Yale School of Drama dean and artistic director James Bundy ’95. At the theater's dedication Iseman said he is "honored" to have his name affiliated with the drama school, "which strives continuously to achieve work that is lasting, influential, transcendent, and sublime."

Drama alumnus wins Tony award

Derek McLane ’84MFA won a 2009 Tony Award for best scenic design of a play, for his work on 33 Variations. Michael Yeargan ’73MFA, professor (adjunct) of design, was nominated in the same category for his designs in Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Other Yale nominations included Jane Greenwood, professor (adjunct) of design, for best costume design of a play in Waiting for Godot; and Scott Pask ’97MFA, for best scenic design of a musical in Pal Joey. The 63rd annual Tony Awards were presented in New York on June 7.